Re: Teeth

Dear Connie,

The reason why we have two sets of teeth is not known for certain,
however, most people believe that the reason is size. A child is much
smaller than a young adult, thus the mouth of a child has to have smaller
teeth. As the child grows in size her (or his) jaw muscles become
stronger and the small teeth can no longer withstand the forces those
muscles place on the teeth. Also the larger mouth requires larger teeth
and thus we have a second set of teeth emerge into the mouth. The first
set is known as the "milk teeth" or "deciduous dentition" The second set
is the "adult teeth," or "permanent dentition."

Why we do not have several sets of teeth, as some animals do, is not
known.

I hope this helps.

Leslie P. Gartner
Department of Anatomy
Dental School
University of Maryland